The first day we went to attempt catching one we could see them tailing in various spots around the swamp, this means they are either swimming or feeding and their large and powerful forked tail breaks the surface, looking a lot like a shark cruising in the shallows.
We threw quite a lot of bread for burley and this got them feeding less then a few metres from our feet. They were clearly visible in the clean water and we could tell most of the school were of a decent size of 4 to 5 kilo.
After about an hour of burleying with bread I could feel the subtle take of the bait and the distinctive sign of the brad slowly trailing off. The slow lift of the road was all that was needed set the hook, it screamed off line for about 10 seconds before 'pop' the line broke. This scenario was quickly repeated by Tyler and Lee. Prognosis, leader to light and drag too high, these fish really have a lot of power and strength of the raped turns is just to much for light leader and braid with no stretch, the answer step up the leader by 2 pound, longer leader to accomadate for some some give and less drag pressure. The answer( I hope) stay hooked and fight time just went out to at least half hour may be more.
Armed with new hooks, heavier leader and drag adjusted we returned to try and conquer the milk fish again.Game on, 3 nil there way.
We started to burley and for a long time weren't seeing any sign of fish, which was really frustrating because we knew they were there. I was starting to get a little bored and ready to give up, slowly winding in my bread to check that it was still on and i got an almighty hit, for the next 3 or 4 minutes and all i could do was hold on while the fish tore out 70 yrds of line and took off across the swamp. Yay, finally hooked and line holding i was pretty excited. Everytime i would get a chance to wind some line back in he would take off, screaming out line again. This went on for about 20 mins, then i started to try and off balance the fish as i wound so i could tire him out a bit; everytime you unbalance him he has to right himself again and it makes them tired. This seemed to be helping a little and i was starting to gain some line, the fish was just in front of me , the large tail leving large boils on the surface and the leader clearly visiable. I was getting pretty confident of landing this fish when zzzzzzzzzz out tore 20 yrds of line again, just when I thought i had him beat and he couldnt possibly take another run, these fish have awesome stamina. I weaved him and walked him around the snags so he wouldnt cut me off. That was successful until he took another mighty 50 yd run right across the swamp, around the only other possible snag being a small sand island, and POP!!! NO!!!!!! I couldn't believe it, i wanted to spit the dummy and throw the rod in the drink! I had played him out for over half an hour, how could i lose him when he must have been getting tired enough for me to finally land. Views of the tail indicate that he could have easily been 80cm long.
As luck would have it, while i was busy lamenting, zzzzzzzzzzzzz went Lee's line, he had hooked up. He was determined not to lose his fish and straight away started working it pretty hard to tire it out, throwing it off balance and winding in line pretty hard. This didnt affect the fish, it still kept making a run for it and pulling out line as it darted all over the swamp. Heading repeatedly towards the snags Lee had to coerce him back into safe open water. Lee fought a fight of will power and strength for half an hour, finally getting the fish withn metres of our feet. Still not ready to give in the milkie started doing laps of us, I had to keep ducking under the line as we where in knee deep water he swam circle after circle around us. He would have done 8 or 9 laps as Lee slowly got in more and more line making the circle tighter and tighter. The fish was now within arms reach and swimming, clearly visible at our feet. Twice Lee attempted to grab its tail, yet before he could do that it once again tried to take off, tearing out all that retrieved line. It was hard to believe just how exciting it could be catching a fish in such a relatively small and shallow body of water. As far as exciting fishing goes, its up there with playing out a big mackeral.
After this run, Lee really stuck it to it and got all the line back in, after a few more desperate laps around our feet he managed to grab him by the tail and get him out of the water for a good look. He was about 90cms long and would have weighed a solid 5 kg. They are such a streamlined fish, built like a torpedo, made for speed. Unfortunately they are not a good eating fish, apparently full of bones and very strong flavoured. Asians don't mind eating them but their flesh is too strong in flavour for the average palette.
So after a few photos and a close look at him, Lee showed him the way home and gently let him go as he swam off to fight another day.
Awesome story guys what a shame they are not good eating, but a hell of a sport fish by the sounds of it. Mick@TenancyPlus
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